Rugby young guns need earn their stripes - and embrace a team's culture

Scott Higginbotham

Culture is one of the most important aspects of a team. No matter how much history a club has, or how long the playing group has been together, there is always a constant struggle to find this winning ingredient.

The average age of players in Australian Super Rugby teams is getting younger each year, so naturally there is going to be a bit of a communication breakdown between clubs and players. Most blokes being signed are fresh out of school and haven't had an opportunity to think about anything else but rugby.

I think myself lucky that I didn't go through the pressures of top level schoolboy rugby, although even in the 11 years I’ve been out of school, the level of first XV 15 rugby has increased dramatically.

Schoolboy rugby has become a year-round program, with students being involved in pre-season training, including fitness and lifting weights. Then there are reviews and previews of other team’s footage for the next game on top of all their other training, not to mention school work.

These students are taught to be ''professional'' athletes before they have even finished their studies, and that if they are the top players in their school rugby competition, they will get contracted to a Super Rugby team.

The boys who are fortunate enough to get contracted are expected to go from being schoolboys to professional athletes in the space of a week. They must take on a new set of rules and protocols on top of being thrown into the media spotlight for everyone to judge.

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So what happens if the oldest player in a team is 26 and has only been playing Super Rugby for three or four years? Does that make him a veteran of the club, or a seasoned Super Rugby player?

I was a late bloomer in terms of playing rugby. I played third XV at school for a bit of fun in year 12 and then went on to play two years of club football while working a number of part-time jobs and doing a bit of study. I was lucky enough to be selected for the Queensland under-19s in my second year out of school and from there was offered an academy gig with the Reds.

In that year (2006), the academy boys were expected to do the majority of the top-squad training. The first training session I walked into I was up against guys including Chris Latham, John Roe, Ben Tune and David Croft.

I was in awe of who I was passing the footy to and a little bit scared to be honest. From the beginning, I knew my place in the team. You spoke when you were spoken to, and if you had an opinion, you kept it to yourself. If one of the older guys did something wrong in training, you kept your mouth shut. If anything, it was probably your fault.

That’s basically where the culture came from, you respected your elders and the players who had been around for a long time. If you were a young bloke coming into the side, you had to do your time, sit up the front of the bus and help load the bags or the training gear.

If you were given the honour to throw on the jersey to play, you did everything to get your job done on the field. You didn't want to let those other players down. The fact that you had played one or two or 10 games didn't mean anything to those experienced players. You still had a long way to go to prove yourself in their eyes.

I think that’s the difference with the younger generation of players today. Some believe that because they have excelled in school rugby and are lucky enough to get a Super Rugby contract, they are entitled to more than they have achieved.

A lot of young guys find out the hard way that it is so easy to lose a contract. There are very few of us who are lucky enough to play 100-plus games of Super Rugby, and it takes a lot of hard work. That’s where you need the right people around you to get you through.

If you don't have the right people in the club to teach you the culture, and what it means to the organisation and the playing group, then how do you know what you stand for as a team? If 30 fresh-faced 18-year-olds are put in a team, then where does the transfer of culture come from?

Culture must be built into a team and if everyone is on the same page, then you end up with 30 mates wanting to play, not just for each other, but their club. I hope that playing for a club means something to these young guys. Playing Super Rugby is a privilege that so many strive for, but so few get the opportunity.